Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus, a filtering technique (so-called, IP Filter, MAC Filter or the like) is known, which allows or limits a specific processing on the basis of identification information (for example, an IP address, an MAC address etc.) of a communication terminal on a network, the communication terminal being communicably connected to a corresponding image forming apparatus via the network.
When a filtering is performed based on the above-described identification information, a terminal such as the image forming apparatus and the like needs to register the identification information for specifying a communication terminal which is a target of the filtering.
The registration of the identification information is typically conducted manually, and, in an environment having a number of communication terminals which are management targets such as a company or the like, entering identification information of a communication terminal which is a filtering target and so forth is a heavy work load.
In addition, knowledge for collecting identification information of such communication terminal is also required in grasping the identification information of a communication terminal which is a filtering target and so forth, and the above-described registration is also a heavy work load from such viewpoint.